Genre: Fantasy, Music
Known to Stateside moviegoers as Godzilla on Monster Island, this slight but fun 1972 entry in the Godzilla franchise pits the King of the Monsters and four-legged cohort Angilas against aliens bent on world domination, as well as their old nemesis, the space dragon King Ghidorah, and a new creature, the birdlike cyborg Gigan. Diehard G-fans may be disappointed by the film's kid-friendly tone (a shift in direction signaled several years earlier by Godzilla's Revenge) and its overreliance on stock footage from other Godzilla films to depict the monsters' orgy of destruction, as well as an unfortunate decision to make Godzilla "talk"; however, children (Gigan's real audience) will undoubtedly enjoy the frantic action. Parents should know that there are two brief moments of blood-letting (Godzilla and Angilas both suffer wounds from a buzzsaw that juts from Gigan's torso), but otherwise, the film is free of objectionable material. --Paul Gaita